Advance care planning in patients with chronic kidney disease

Abstract

Poor communication and failure to establish goals of care result in unnecessary admissions to hospital, invasive procedures, suffering, and prolongation of the dying process for many CKD patients. Comprehensive CKD care requires systematic integration of advance care planning (ACP). This report describes an approach to ACP for patients with CKD, discusses essential aspects of how to facilitate these conversations, and briefly reviews the empirical evidence supporting the value of ACP.